Founder's Associate

About the role

This is a full-time, in-person role and requires the ability to commute to our working locations in Needham, MA and Somerville, MA as needed. The core of this high-trust, high-agency role is multiplying what the CEO can get done by taking ownership of important work and its day-to-day details. You’ll be handed problems that may be incomplete, loosely defined, technical, operational, or entirely new. Your job is to quickly understand what we’re trying to accomplish, figure out what information is missing, identify the paths forward, and drive toward a useful result through hands-on execution and follow-through. Some days you might research and source an unfamiliar piece of hardware, compare vendors, or work with our technical team to understand the tradeoffs between different approaches. Other days you might help develop a proposal, investigate a business question, improve an internal process, or take a half-formed idea and turn it into something the company can act on. You will not always be given complete information or a step-by-step assignment. We’re looking for someone who is comfortable working through ambiguity, knows how to find answers, and can make a recommendation, act within agreed authority, and keep work moving. As you build context and trust, you’ll grow into ownership of larger projects or parts of the business.

Responsibilities

• Take loosely defined problems from research and recommendations through hands-on execution and completed work.
• Research technical, operational, and business questions and get up to speed quickly on unfamiliar subjects.
• Source and evaluate products, components, vendors, and services based on cost, capability, lead time, and fit.
• Work across engineering, design, fabrication, projects, and outside vendors to gather information and move work forward.
• Support proposals, scopes, estimates, procurement, and other company priorities requiring research and attention to detail.
• Identify missing information, dependencies, contradictions, and risks; handle the follow-ups and routine details needed to close loops.
• Take ownership of increasingly complex problems and initiatives, improving recurring processes and reducing routine decisions that need the CEO.

Qualifications

• Experience in a role involving some combination of operations, technical production, procurement, research, project delivery, fabrication, consulting, or startup work.
• Strong examples of independently working through ambiguous or unfamiliar problems.
• Comfort researching, comparing options, and making recommendations.
• Technical curiosity and demonstrated ability to learn unfamiliar subjects.
• Familiarity with how things get designed, sourced, built, or installed is helpful; expertise across these areas is not required.
• Strong written communication and comfort with spreadsheets, shared documents, and learning unfamiliar tools.
• Coding, APIs, or financial models may be useful tools for particular tasks, not prerequisites for the role.
• Ability to commute to our studio in Needham, MA or our venue in Somerville, MA as needed.

Pay

$65,000–$100,000 annual salary, commensurate with experience and demonstrated ability. Meaningful equity ownership. Equity is a core part of the compensation for this role, not a token perk.

Benefits

• Paid Time Off (PTO) plus 12 recognized holidays.
• Highly flexible work hours.
• Medical, vision, and dental coverage.
• Retirement savings plan with employer match.